We were determined to get out on the road early today. Early for us that is. We were in the truck by ten and on our way for a ride through the countryside.
We didn’t have a cloud in the sky so it made for a perfect day of sightseeing.
The first stop we made was in Keystone, near Mt. Rushmore.
We stopped to check out this roadside business.
Dahls’ Chainsaw Art, is owned by two brothers, Jarrett and Jordan Dahl. The two discovered they had a talent with the chainsaws back in 2004 when they visited Alaska. They returned to the Kenai Peninsula for the next four years, learning and honing their skills. In fact we had seen sculptures when we were in Alaska that were done by the person they learned from.
Here my friend Dianne sits on a bench done by wood craftsman they Dahl boys learned from.
By 2008 the Dahl brothers were open for business in Keystone. The specialty is bears and eagles but they have ventured from those pieces.
The detail they put into their work is just amazing.
I talked to the younger brother, Jordon, who only works at this in the summertime. In the winter he goes back to wherever home is and helps his dad on the family farm. I asked him if his dad wouldn’t need him more in the summer but he just smiled and said, “Probably, but I make more money here.”
They seem to have quite a business here as I saw several people putting the woodcarvings in their vehicles. Smaller ones for sure, but people were buying all the same. The larger pieces have quite the hefty price tag as you can well imagine.
They did have a carving of a bride and groom on site.
Again, the detail they put into their sculptures is just amazing.
We would have liked to stay and see more of Keystone but we will probably make this trip again when friends Joy and DeWayne come to visit in mid-July or when Dianne flies in for a week in August.
Next stop was Hill City.
We walked up and down Main Street, I don’t know if it was really called that but its what it was. We stopped in several shops and could have spent a fortune but managed to walk away with a wooden sign that says, “Its never too late to live happily after” and Bob picked up a garden ornament for our little mini garden here in the FamCamp. The shop we bought from is filled with all things made by local artists. Pottery, paintings, wooden signs, leather items, framed photos, hand quilted items, frames and many other things. Hill City must truly be an artist’s haven. From the gift shops we went to a T-shirt shop so Bob could a Sturgis T-shirt and we were surprised that we could get a Jerzee T and nice silk screen image for such a reasonable price. We are betting the price jumps for Sturgis Week.
Feeling parched we went into none other than the……
…..for a beer and a Pepsi.
As we walked down the street we took notice of this metal sculpture of a horse.
We like sculptures like this because we like to see how many things we can identify that went into the making of it.
Having walked the length of Main Street we headed back up the other side and stopped in a few more stores. I saw this one young lady trying on hats and just had to snap a picture of her.
It was such a beautiful day the bikes were out in force but nothing what its going to be like come Sturgis Week.
Back on the road we stopped at Pactola Lake.
Pactola Lake is the largest reservoir in the Black Hills and is created by the Pactola Dam. At the bottom of Pactola Lake is the submerged town of Pactola, an old mining camp and site of several military bivouacs during the original settlement of the Black Hills in the mid-1870s.
I can only imagine how cold this water is because it has only been recently that we have been enjoying temps in the 80’s and the 70’s for that matter. Yet, people were out on the lake waterskiing, tubing and at the beach swimming across the way.
The next town on our map was Silver City. It was even in pretty big letters but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. After some research I did find that this town was once a mining hub for this region, many, many years ago.
Here’s what we found when we turned off the main road to head to Silver City.
….and this is Main Street.
The heart of town is probably shared by these two buildings….
This small church and the fire department building.
We did notice a rather large sign that seemed to list all the residents and where they lived on the map. Rather unique to say the least.
The drive we took today was a big circle and as we ended back in Rapid City we stopped by Canyon Lake Park.
There was lots of activities going on in the park today, family picnics, people running, fishing, kids playing Frisbee, paddleboating on the lake and just strolling,,,actually, a lot of strolling was going on. Us included.
We walked out to this little island and found a sign offering info on how to get married in The Gazebo. I bet a lot of knots are tied here.
It certainly was an enjoyable day. Beautiful weather, pretty sights, it just doesn’t get any better than this.
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